


call me anything

by dayevsphil



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23029138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayevsphil/pseuds/dayevsphil
Summary: “Sorry, I can’t,” he finds himself saying to his classmates and coworkers and even his brother, once or twice. “I’ve got a date that I can’t reschedule. Rain check?”It’s the perfect excuse to stay home and veg out with Phil.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 51
Kudos: 226





	call me anything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [citizen101erased](https://archiveofourown.org/users/citizen101erased/gifts).



> this is a present for my pal charlotte!! it's very late to call it a birthday present, but that was the original intention. i hope you still enjoy it so late, dear!
> 
> read and reblog on tumblr [here!](https://dayevsphil.tumblr.com/post/611773399586537472/call-me-anything)

Dan desperately doesn’t want to leave the flat. He’s already in his pyjamas and slippers, lounging on the sofa and waiting for Phil to get out of the shower so they can watch a new-to-them anime together, trying to field his friends’ pestering.

It’s not that easy. It’s never that easy. His old friends are in Manchester for the weekend and keep bothering Dan to come hang out, because what he wants has never really factored into that relationship at all. He’d been prepared for a similar sort of friendship when he met Phil in the uni library a few years ago, something one-sided and draining, because that’s all Dan had ever known. Of course, his friendship with Phil is completely different than anything he’s had before.

The last thing he wants to do is leave the safe haven of the home he shares with his best friend to get wasted with idiots he’s been avoiding since his gap year.

He can hear Phil milling around in the bathroom, blowdrying his hair and pulling on pyjamas of his own, and Dan considers shutting his phone off entirely. That solution isn’t going to work for the whole weekend, though, so he goes with the truth and tells his friends that he’s busy.

 **unacceptable to ditch us unless you’re getting your dick wet howell** , one of them sends to the group chat. Dan can almost hear the jeering from here. He sighs.

**maybe i am ;)**

Emojis get tossed his way - celebratory and inappropriate in equal amounts - and Dan locks his phone without a twinge of guilt for lying to people he never really liked that much to begin with. Phil wanders out to the lounge with his hair mostly dry and his feet stuffed into moose slippers. He grins at Dan, asks if he wants any popcorn, and Dan forgets about the text entirely.

\--

“Oh no,” Dan says, stopping in his tracks. “No, we gotta find somewhere else to drink, come on.”

Phil’s hands on his waist push him forward a bit so he isn’t blocking the door of the pub, and Dan wishes he wasn’t hyperaware of the small touch. Phil has always been big with casual touches, but sometimes Dan _notices_ it more when they’re in public.

“What is it?” Phil asks.

“Those guys in the booth over there,” says Dan, turning his whole body so that they won’t be able to see him even if they do look over. “I know them.”

“D’you want to go say hi?”

Dan snorts. “Fuck, no. I want to get out of here as soon as fucking possible before they see me.”

Something like understanding dawns on Phil’s face, and he gives Dan the sort of small smile that made Dan feel comfortable with him to begin with. He agrees easily and, one hand still pressed to Dan’s waist, guides him back out the door. The wind is cold tonight, but Dan is willing to brave it to avoid his past for as long as he possibly can.

It’s on their way past the pub window, Phil chatting animatedly and fixing Dan’s beanie for him without breaking stride, that Dan makes eye contact with one of them. 

He almost freezes again, hides behind Phil, runs away, whatever, but the guy - Marky, but he probably doesn’t still go by that - just gives him a short nod and turns back to the conversation.

“You okay?” Phil checks when his story is over and they’re a few streets away from people Dan would prefer never to see again. His pale cheeks are flushed with the wind and his hands are jammed in the pockets of his jacket, but he doesn’t seem annoyed by the extra time outside.

“Sure,” Dan says noncommittally. Things are very weird in his brain right now, thoughts chasing each other around like an elaborate game of It, but he doesn’t know how he’d even begin to voice that. It’s easier to say that he’s fine than it is to delve into the fact that one of his friends definitely thinks he and Phil are _a thing_ and doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.

\--

Dan manages to get through the weekend without incident. It doesn’t escape his notice that Marky tells the other guys to lay off him when they start pushing to see him, but he also doesn’t know how to feel about it at all.

It opens a door to Dan that he didn’t know existed, actually. There are always plans he doesn’t want to be a part of, people he doesn’t want to hang out with, and saying _well my flatmate and I are bingeing a new show_ isn’t a good enough reason to bail on most things. Dan starts giving more vague excuses, says he’s got plans with someone and lets people make their own conclusions. After a few months of it, he starts using the word ‘date’.

“Sorry, I can’t,” he finds himself saying to his classmates and coworkers and even his brother, once or twice. “I’ve got a date that I can’t reschedule. Rain check?”

It’s the perfect excuse to stay home and veg out with Phil. Dan thinks that it says a lot about why he shouldn’t have been accepted to a law program - the fact that he doesn’t anticipate this white lie blowing up in his face at all. He figures it’ll continue to serve the same purpose for as long as he needs it to.

Obviously, he’s wrong.

\--

“Dan,” says Phil, all slow amusement and edges of confusion. “Why does Chris think you have a date tonight?”

“Oh, right.” Dan doesn’t bother looking away from the TV. He’s about to win this round and he doesn’t need the distraction. “I told him I did.”

Phil makes a sound that Dan’s scattered brain can’t categorize. The back of the couch shifts a bit, like Phil is leaning against it. “But you don’t,” Phil points out the obvious. “You’re hanging out with me tonight.”

“Yeah,” says Dan.

He’s going to explain - really, he is - but then he gets hit by a red shell, and things get a little hairy after that. It isn’t until he’s finished the round and gotten second place by a sliver of a second that he looks up at Phil. The explanation rises and dies in Dan’s throat, because Phil’s expression isn’t what he expected it to be.

“We’re going on a date tonight?” Phil asks. He’s so tentatively hopeful that Dan can’t bring himself to burst the bubble. Besides, it’s not like it’s a bad misunderstanding.

“If you want to,” says Dan. He’s overly aware of his greasy hair and holey sweats at this moment, but Phil has seen him look much worse. Phil has seen him at his _absolute_ worst, and he’s still smiling like Dan has given him the best present in the world.

Phil reaches out and pokes at Dan’s cheek, grinning wide. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much to cat, chicken, and jude for looking this over and keeping my spirits up when i had to restart it three times. i love y'all :pleadingemoji:


End file.
